Initial Willingness Research Articles

The Green-Innovation-Inducing Effect of a Unit Progressive Carbon Tax

The major global economies are facing increasing pressure to reduce their carbon emissions. Introducing environmental policy instruments to stimulate green innovation is key to mitigating global warming. We propose a carbon tax design with a typical green innovation orientation that links carbon taxes with the low-carbon technology (LCT) of enterprises and imposes a progressive tax on heterogeneous enterprises with LCT stock to encourage green innovation. This study used a dynamic evolution game model based on the Stackelberg model of heterogeneous enterprises with LCT stock to analyze the green-innovation-inducing effect of unit progressive carbon taxes. A unit progressive carbon tax could encourage enterprises to participate in green innovation, regardless of their initial green innovation willingness. The progressive tax rate was more effective than a fixed rate for stimulating green innovation by all enterprises. There was a marginal diminishing effect of increases in the tax rate. An increase in the innovation cost coefficient of enterprises reduced the green-innovation-inducing effect of the unit progressive carbon tax. Increasing the tax rate was effective only under normal circumstances. A decline in the carbon reduction in enterprises also reduced the green-innovation-inducing effect of the unit progressive carbon tax. Furthermore, increasing the tax rate when the carbon reduction amount was extremely low caused enterprises to abandon green innovation.

A tripartite evolutionary game analysis of Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge

Japan's decision to discharge nuclear wastewater into the sea on April 13, 2021 has aroused worldwide discussions recently. This paper establishes a tripartite evolutionary game model to explore the evolutionary stable strategies (ESSs) of Japan, other countries, and international environmental protection organization (IEPO). The results show: i) The choice of Japan is closely related to the treatment cost of nuclear wastewater. When Japan chooses the non-discharge strategy, other countries will always choose the acceptance strategy, while IEPO will trade off between its credibility and international assistance. When Japan chooses the discharge strategy, the choice of other countries depends on the difference of litigation compensation and cost, while that of IEPO is determined by the comparison of the litigation compensation and credibility with the litigation cost. ii) The treatment cost of nuclear wastewater, negative externalities of marine environment, litigation compensation, international assistance from IEPO, and the proximity coefficient between Japan and other countries are critical factors influencing both evolutionary results and trajectories, while the international assistance from other countries and initial willingness only affect evolutionary trajectories. This paper also puts forward policy implications for the three stakeholders to promote Japan's non-discharge strategy so as to protect the marine environment and human health from the unprecedented damage.

Lie for Me: Developmental Trends in Acquiescing to a Blatantly False Statement

A pair of studies demonstrates that simply asking children to make a blatantly false accusation in the guise of helping others can result in both immediate and long-term false claims. In the pilot study, the initial willingness to make a blatantly false statement was associated with some children making false statements a week later despite being told that the first interviewer had made mistakes during the initial interview. On a positive note, the majority of participants accurately stated that they did not have first-hand knowledge of their accusation's accuracy. Across both studies, the rate of false accusation rates was high. The main experiment demonstrated that children who were young, possessed the lowest verbal intelligence or who were from the lowest SES homes made the most accusations. These findings illustrate not only the dangers of encouraging children to make false statements, but the ease and durability of making such false statements.

Promotion Strategy of Policy against Food Waste (PAFW): The Perspective on Evolutionary Game between Local Government and Large Supermarkets

The implementation of PAFW is an important way to reduce food waste. Discussing how to more successfully implement PAFW to reduce food waste is of great significance in achieving sustainable development. Different from the previous literature, this paper uses evolutionary game theory to establish a strategic interaction income matrix between local governments and large supermarkets and analyzes the strategic interaction between local governments and large supermarkets by copying dynamic equations, revealing the strategic choice between the two parties evolution process. A simulation-based approach is used to validate the theoretical results and analyze the influence of key parameters on the evolutionary trajectory. The study found the following: (1) to promote the system to an optimal evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), it is necessary to strengthen policy publicity, increase the willingness of large supermarkets to implement the PAFW, and increase the enthusiasm of the public or third-party organizations to monitor system; (2) stakeholders’ initial willingness will influence the evolutionary trajectory; and (3) it is important to strengthen the institutional development of local government regulators, improve the local government’s achievements, reduce the local government’s regulatory costs, improve policies to support large supermarkets’ implementation of the PAFW, and reduce the cost of implementing the PAFW for large supermarkets.

Acceptability of Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Among Tuberculosis (TB) Patients in Ghana

Patients should first be counselled and tested for HIV to benefit from available care and treatment options. The aim of this paper was to find out the level of acceptance of HIV testing among patients who visit the Chest Diseases Clinic of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Information about all adult tuberculosis patients who attended the clinic between January and December 2019 in which patients’ socio-demographic information and tuberculosis treatment history were taken from the TB register, patients who showed initial willingness were referred to a VCT counsellor for HIV counselling before testing was done. Rapid test methods were used, and the results were disclosed. The logistic regression method was used to assess the factors associated with HIV co-infection, willingness, and acceptability. 250 tuberculosis (TB) patients who were among the total of 485 gave their consent and willingly participated in this study. Their median age was 30 years (range, 13–50+), and 56.8% of them were females. 29 patients had tested previously, including 29 HIV positive. 66.0% (165) were willing to be tested.

The exclusion of serious and organised offenders and their victims from the offer of restorative justice: Should this be so and what happens when the offer is put on the table?

There is scarce research evidence of restorative justice being used in the context of serious and organised crime offending. This study sought to explore the feasibility of using restorative justice by canvassing the views of experts, serious and organised crime offenders and serious and organised crime victims in England. Offenders and victims were given the opportunity to engage in a restorative justice initiative and individual cases were pursued accordingly as a series of case studies. Case studies were limited to large-scale serious and organised fraud. Stark differences in views were apparent between serious and organised crime experts and restorative justice experts, the former doubting offenders’ motivations and pointing to their dangerousness without fully considering victim perspectives. Despite high attrition rates among some offenders expressing an initial willingness to pursue restorative justice, where both parties wished to participate, sustained motivation was observed. This study highlights inequities in the way that police forces have implemented the 2015 Victims Code requirements for restorative justice in England and Wales, potentially blocking opportunities for closure, social integration and reduced reoffending.

The Deviation of the Behaviors of Rice Farmers from Their Stated Willingness to Apply Biopesticides-A Study Carried Out in Jilin Province of China.

The substitution of chemical pesticides by biopesticides is crucial to ensure the quality of agricultural products and to foster environmental sustainability. This study takes the willingness and the behaviors of rice farmers on the application of biopesticides as the research object. The survey questionnaire was designed based on the theory of rational small-scale farmers from three aspects: “individual and family characteristics of farmers”, “cognition of farmers” and “external factors”. The survey was then conducted on 163 rice farmers in seven prefecture-level cities in Jilin Province of China. The logistic model was used to analyze the influencing factors resulting in the deviation of the behaviors of the rice farmers from their initial willingness on the application of biopesticides. The explanatory structure model (ISM) was used to analyze the logical hierarchical relationship among various influencing factors. The results show that: (1) For 45% of the farmers surveyed, there’s a deviation between their willingness and behaviors regarding the application of biopesticides; (2) Among the significant factors leading to the deviation between farmers’ willingness and behaviors concerning the application of biopesticides, the surface-level direct factor is biopesticide awareness. The mid-level indirect factors are agricultural product quality and safety awareness and the deep-level root cause is farmers’ education level. (3) The primary reason for the deviation of the farmers’ behaviors from their willingness is their lack of knowledge about biopesticides and the biopesticides’ incomplete market structure. Based on the comprehensive analysis, it is recommended to improve the professionalization of the farmers, to strengthen the publicity of green production and to accelerate the formulation of the biopesticides market to further promote the usage of biopesticides.

Punishment or reward? Strategies of stakeholders in the quality of photovoltaic plants based on evolutionary game analysis in China

The quality of photovoltaic (PV) plants is one of the main barriers to the future adoption of PV-generated electricity, which is largely dependent on the strategies of stakeholders. Most studies analyze this issue from a technical perspective while ignoring the effects of the stakeholders. Hence, this paper analyzes the evolutionary trajectories of the government, contractors, and investors by establishing evolutionary game models under quality assurance and revenue-sharing contracts that stipulate punishments and rewards. The results show that the government has no direct effect on the quality of PV plants. Under a quality assurance contract, the quality of PV plants depends only on improvements in operations and maintenance (O&M), whereas, under a revenue-sharing contract, it depends both on development and O&M. A parameter analysis classifies the influencing parameters under the revenue-sharing contract into three types. The stakeholders’ initial willingness is a subjective parameter; solar energy resources, unit revenue, development costs, and O&M costs are objective parameters; the revenue-sharing ratio is an indirect parameter. Recommendations are made for the promotion of investments by the government and the PV industry.

Research on an Enterprise Green Innovation Ecosystem From the Vulnerability Perspective: Evolutionary Game and Simulation

Peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality have become one of the main goals of most countries globally. Important in this context is the coordinated green development of core enterprises and upstream and downstream enterprises. Effective solutions lie in developing an enterprise green innovation ecosystem. From the perspective of the vulnerability enterprises face as they build a green innovation ecosystem, this paper uses evolutionary game theory to study the three-party evolutionary game model in which core enterprises take the lead and upstream and downstream enterprises are the participants. It then analyzes the impact of four measurement types core enterprises take and the initial willingness of the three parties on the system evolution. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The vulnerability of the enterprise green innovation ecosystem is quite different in different development stages. (2) The impact is gradually weaker of the four synergies between core enterprises and upstream and downstream enterprises on the healthy operation of the system. (3) The initial willingness of the three parties has a significant impact on the system vulnerability, and the difference is large. When core enterprises actively promote green innovation and upstream and downstream enterprises have a high initial willingness to adopt it, system vulnerability is at its lowest. Finally, combined with the findings from the numerical simulation analysis, some suggestions are made to guide the effective reduction of vulnerability and the healthy operation of the enterprise’s green innovation ecosystem.

Rational Irrationality: A Two Stage Decision Making Model

This paper proposes a mathematical two-stage decision making model based on dual-decision models from behavioral economics that includes, in addition to cognitive and affective systems, an individualistic human factor and a stochastic shock. The model provides a new vision of the decision-making process and the impact of individualism. In the first stage, the agent´s initial willingness to choose is obtained following traditional economic theory but including an individual human factor, which is composed by the learning process, free will, and other human factors. This allows us to explain the reason why sometimes people are inclined to choose options that seem to be irrational decisions from the view of traditional economics logic. In the second stage, the model explains how the cognitive and affective systems and the influence of a stochastic shock affect the initial willingness to choose, obtained in the first stage. The shock might be produced by those negative and/or positive feelings and information not known or considered previously that allows the individual arrive to the final decision. Finally, our model demonstrates that the individual human factor and the stochastic shock are fundamental elements that define the rational irrationality when traditional economic theory fails to explain individuals´ choices.

Research on Public Adoption Willingness of “Internet + Government Affairs” in Blockchain Industry

In view of the low utilization rate of “Internet + government” service users and the weak awareness of public participation, the paper analyzes the influencing factors of “Internet + government” public adoption in the context of the blockchain industry. The empirical research is carried out from three dimensions: perceived trust, environmental characteristics, and public satisfaction; combined with the advantages of application blockchain technology in “Internet + government affairs,” it analyzes the characteristics of public adoption behavior at different stages, builds a process‐based “Internet + government affairs” public adoption model, and utilizes methods of factor analysis and structural equations to verify the models, and finally recommendations are provided to boost the public adoption. The research shows that government trust, big data security trust, and blockchain technology advantages have a significant impact on the public’s initial willingness to participate; perceived ease of use, usefulness, and quality of perception directly and positively affect public satisfaction and indirectly affect public continuous willingness to use. The results of the research provide a theoretical basis and data support for continuously improving “Internet + government affairs” quality, to fully realize the value of government affairs services in the blockchain industry.

Research on the Evolution Path and Influence Factors of Core Enterprise Oriented Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Under the Government Regulation

The core enterprise oriented entrepreneurship ecosystem plays an important role in promoting the sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship and realizing the multi-agent win-win symbiosis. Based on the structure of the core enterprise oriented entrepreneurship ecosystem, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model with the participation of core enterprises, start-up enterprises and the government, analyzes the equilibrium point and corresponding stability conditions for the evolutionary game model, and carries out a simulation analysis on different stability conditions from the aspects of the initial willingness of the participants, the intensity of the subsidy and punishment, the cost and benefit of the strategy selection. The results show that: (1) In order to achieve different equilibrium states, different stability conditions should be satisfied, and there may be multiple stable points under each stability condition. (2) The initial intention will positively affect the subject’s positive strategy selection, and negatively affect the subject’s negative strategy selection. (3) The strategy selections of core enterprises, start-up enterprises and the government will be affected by many factors, and different factors have different influences on the directions and degrees of the main strategy selections. Based on these conclusions, we can build a unified information platform, set up a moderately high, flexible reward and punishment mechanism, and build a multi-party collaborative governance system. In addition, we can also use the stability conditions to judge the development status of the ecosystem to promote the formation of the ideal core enterprise oriented entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Videoconferencing at home for psychotherapy in the postpartum period: Identifying drivers of successful engagement and important therapeutic conditions for meaningful use

AbstractPurposeVirtual care has almost become the norm since COVID‐19 mandated social distancing. Prior, the use of personal videoconferencing was being explored as an appealing option to overcome barriers to care, but little was studied about how we should do it and for whom. This study aimed to answer these questions for women receiving psychotherapy in the postpartum period when there are significant barriers to attending office‐based care.MethodsTwelve postpartum women who had the option to attend their psychotherapy sessions for the treatment of mood and/or anxiety symptoms via videoconferencing over a 3‐month time period were interviewed about their experience. The three therapists providing care were also interviewed early in adoption of the virtual treatment and at the end of the study. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes for the initial and ongoing engagement with videoconferencing, which were triangulated with therapist input.FindingsMajor themes which emerged related to (a) initial willingness to engage with videoconferencing, (b) technological compatibility, and (c) a good patient fit, with positive and negative influencers for each. Therapeutic considerations were identified, including (a) an initial in‐person meeting when possible, (b) matching the therapy format to the clinical situation, (c) attention to the home environment, and (d) a clear therapy frame.ConclusionsTherapists should consider that videoconferencing might not be appropriate for every patient; but in the right context and with appropriate therapeutic considerations, offering this treatment format may actually facilitate an individual's recovery. These findings can help to inform the future delivery of videoconferencing psychotherapy.

Strategies of Haze Risk Reduction Using the Tripartite Game Model

Although haze risk management is mainly under government control, willingness of stakeholders is compulsory to determine. Therefore, this study constructs a tripartite game model of government, public, and enterprises and determines the haze risk evolution model considering the initial willingness of stakeholders. Moreover, numerical simulation analysis was also conducted. The results revealed that stakeholders were affected by the change due to initial willingness to participate in and reach the equilibrium at different speeds. It is found that if subsidy coefficient of the government is big, it will reach equilibrium faster. The bigger the penalty coefficient is, the better the pollution reduction effect of pollutant discharge enterprises. It is found that, at the final equilibrium stage, the government will eventually choose to withdraw from supervision, but the speed of withdrawing varies with different regulatory intentions. Study results stress that the government should actively participate in supervision to reduce environmental pollution.

Developing model biobanking consent language: what matters to prospective participants?

BackgroundEfforts to improve informed consent have led to calls for providing information a reasonable person would want to have, in a way that facilitates understanding of the reasons why one might or might not want to participate. At the same time, advances in large-scale genomic research have expanded both the opportunities and the risks for participants, families, and communities. To advance the use of effective consent materials that reflect this landscape, we used empirical data to develop model consent language, as well as brief questions to assist people in thinking about their own values relative to participation.MethodsWe conducted in-person interviews to gather preliminary input on these materials from a diverse sample (n = 32) of the general population in Nashville, Tennessee. We asked them to highlight information they found especially reassuring or concerning, their hypothetical willingness to participate, and their opinions about the values questions.ResultsConsent information most often highlighted as reassuring included the purpose of the biobank, the existence and composition of a multidisciplinary oversight committee, the importance of participants’ privacy and efforts to protect it, and controlled access to a scientific database. Information most often highlighted as concerning included the deposition of data in a publicly accessible database, the risk of unintended access to data, the potential for non-research use of data, and use of medical record information in general. Seventy-five percent of participants indicated initial willingness to participate in the hypothetical biobank; this decreased to 66% as participants more closely considered the information over the course of the interview. A large majority rated the values questions as helpful.ConclusionsThese results are consistent with other research on public perspectives on biobanking and genomic cohort studies, suggesting that our model language effectively captures commonly expressed reasons for and against participation. Our study enriches this literature by connecting specific consent form disclosures with qualitative data regarding what participants found especially reassuring or concerning and why. Interventions that facilitate individuals’ closer engagement with consent information may result in participation decisions more closely aligned with their values.

The Formation Mechanism of Green Dairy Industry Chain from the Perspective of Green Sustainable Development

By constructing an evolutionary game model of green dairy industry chain from the perspective of green sustainable development, this paper analyzed the evolution process of strategy selection of dairy farmers and dairy enterprises under the supervision of the government. The study found the following. (1) In the absence of supervision, even if the initial cooperation willingness of dairy farmers and dairy enterprises is strong, once the additional cost of their input of “green production” is less than the additional benefit, they will eventually choose noncooperative strategy. (2) In the case of government supervision, when the government punishment or subsidy is not strong enough, the strategic choice of dairy farmers and dairy enterprises will fluctuate repeatedly, and the game equilibrium cannot be reached. However, when the government punishments and subsidies are strong enough, dairy farmers and dairy enterprises will choose to cooperate in their own interests. At this time, government subsidies have a greater impact on the evolution of bilateral cooperation than government punishments. (3) The reduction of green production cost can promote the formation of the green dairy industry chain, which is conducive to the green dairy industry chain system to achieve an ideal equilibrium state.

Parental engagement in child protection assessment practice: Voices from parents

Internationally, parental engagement is considered crucial in child welfare practice in terms of client change and the potential to improve client outcomes. However, parental engagement is challenging for child welfare practice. This article describes the empirical results of perspectives and experiences of 11 parents’ engagement in child protection assessment practice through in-depth semi-structured interviews in one county in North Estonia. Two conceptual models were used to analyse parental engagement: the family engagement model and the differential or alternative response model.Findings indicate the decisive element in successful engagement is most related to the personal characteristics and communication skills of the worker, especially their ability to create a trusting climate at the beginning of the relationship and maintain supportive communication throughout the working process. When parents’ belief in collaboration and willingness to cooperate were weakened by a negative attitude and mistrust from the worker, they felt let down by the system. True engagement proved to exist only in a supportive environment created by the worker, and parents’ initial willingness to cooperate was never enough to sustain good collaboration. Finally, parents who experienced a supportive attitude and engagement felt they were participating voluntarily and recognised the relationship with the worker as beneficial for them.

The Rise of Public Networks for Economic Inclusion: Strategic Dilemmas Experienced by Flemish SSE-Organizations

Abstract In this article, we summarize the dominant experiences, discussions, and judgments of Flemish SSE-organizations joining emerging public multi-actor networks to tackle the socioeconomic challenge of economic inclusion. Based on a longitudinal qualitative research track combining case-study research, focus group research and action research (i.e. pilot studies), we recently find out that the initial enthusiasm, willingness and interest of SSE-organizations to participate has gradually been replaced by emerging feelings of cautiousness, disappointment, and frictions. When considering the dominant underlying classical rational management paradigm of these networks, we can better understand the precise nature and origin of these growing frictions. As such, emerging strategic network paradigms seem to provoke serious dilemmas. Based on our research results these frictions relate to (i) the reasons for being invited to participate, (ii) the meaning of related concepts (i.e. quality, professionalism, and innovation), (iii) the assumed disturbance of competition, and (iv) the pressure of isomorphic management models.

An Exploratory Analysis of Spine Patients' Preoperative Concerns and Decision-making Process: Does What Surgeons Say Matter?

Cross-sectional, pre-post patient survey. The aim of this study was to determine what factors affect a patient's decision to undergo elective surgery following a surgical consultation. The surgical consultation is an important step in selecting and preparing patients for elective surgery. Despite the proven effectiveness and low risk of complications, many spine procedure candidates may still choose to forgo surgery after an appropriate discussion and clear surgical indications. Survey and open-response questions regarding pre- and post-consultation surgical concerns and overall willingness to undergo surgery were collected and analyzed from 124 patients deemed surgical candidates. Demographics, surgical willingness, and patient concerns were analyzed. Open-ended response data were tallied for surgical concerns and responses were analyzed line-by-line to assess for main themes. Sub-analysis was included on patients who reconsidered their willingness post-consultation. Qualitative thematic analysis of patient's concerns regarding surgery uncovered six major themes: Interference on quality of life (QOL), fear, physical concerns, success, risk, and concerns regarding the surgeon (CS). Success and risk were most commonly mentioned pre-consultation (27%, 26%); risk and QOL were most commonly mentioned post-consultation (22%, 21%). Of 124 patients, 103 were willing to have surgery before consultation and remained willing post-consultation; six patients became unwilling. Twenty-one patients were unwilling to consider surgery before consultation; only five remained unwilling. No differences were found between degenerative and deformity patients regarding initial willingness or changes thereafter. The decision to undergo surgery is a multifactorial and complex process with a variety of patient concerns. We grouped these concerns into six categories to aid in future discussion with patients. 87% of patients have made up their mind before attending their surgical consultation. Appropriate understanding of patient-specific willingness and concerns should help facilitate necessary discussion and aid in a more efficient and useful shared decision-making process. 4.

Rational Irrationality: A Two Stage Decision Making Model

This paper proposes a mathematical two-stage decision making model based on dual-decision models from behavioral economics that includes, in addition to cognitive and affective systems, an individualistic human factor and a stochastic shock. The model provides a new vision of the decision-making process and the impact of individualism. In the first stage, the agent´s initial willingness to choose is obtained following traditional economic theory but including an individual human factor, which is composed by the learning process, free will, and other human factors. This allows us to explain the reason why sometimes people are inclined to choose options that seem to be irrational decisions from the view of traditional economics logic. In the second stage, the model explains how the cognitive and affective systems and the influence of a stochastic shock affect the initial willingness to choose, obtained in the first stage. The shock might be produced by those negative and/or positive feelings and information not known or considered previously that allows the individual arrive to the final decision. Finally, our model demonstrates that the individual human factor and the stochastic shock are fundamental elements that define the rational irrationality when traditional economic theory fails to explain individuals´ choices.